


Writing Craft: A note on this series

by Dessarious



Series: Writing Craft [1]
Category: Writing Craft
Genre: Books on Writing, Writing, Writing Advice, writing exercises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 10:42:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22552111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dessarious/pseuds/Dessarious
Summary: This is just an Intro post to my Writing Craft series with some advice as wellCross posted on Tumblr @dessarious
Series: Writing Craft [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622623
Kudos: 3





	Writing Craft: A note on this series

I decided to go through some writing craft books basically summarising, adding my own thoughts, and doing exercises so that people can get an idea of what's out there and, since money is tight for a lot of people, help people get an idea of what books they should buy to help them. I've seen a lot of people flounder at the sheer amount of information, most of it contradictory, so I'm hoping this will help others find their way a little easier. Before I get into the actual books I do want to offer a bit of advice.

How to use Books on Writing Craft:

The biggest issue new or even established writers have with books on writing craft is that they seem to think they have to follow the advice or rules a specific author gives them. So before I get into any actual books I’m going to address this problem. So here’s how to go about using books on writing craft.

1) The author did not write this book with you or your writing process in mind. Even if they claim something is a rule that all writers have to follow, do not believe them.

2) Authors can only write from their experience as far as what works for them. Absolutely none of that has to work for you. 

3) If someone says there’s only one way to do something, laugh and treat it as a suggestion because it is.

4) Anytime you read a book that keeps saying ‘you have to do something a specific way’ read it as the author has to do it that way. You however are free to do what works for you no matter how similar or different your way is. 

5) Try everything, but throw out anything that doesn’t work for you. No one has exactly the same process and while there are certainly things that are considered standard writing practices, nothing is set in stone.

6) Look for ways to use advice so that it fits into your writing style. If you don’t know what your style is that’s fine, you’ll learn as you go. If you do, try to be creative. If you’re a pantser reading a book on outlining try to see if any of the advice will work for you in the editing or creation phase, or even things you can look at while you’re writing. If you’re a plotter, try to find ways to embrace less structure in your initial idea building phase. But again, if it doesn’t work toss it.

7) Do what works for you. Let me repeat that. Do what works for you. I don’t care what any best selling author says, if you can’t write that way it’s absolutely useless to you no matter how much they claim it’s absolutely the only way to go about writing a book.

With that in mind, I’m going to try and be as objective as possible but I’m sure at some point my own style will rear its head. Feel free to call me out if I just say something does or does not work without qualifying it. I want this to help as many people as possible so I need you guys to help keep my own limitations in check.

That said, I hope this will be educational or at least amusing for everyone. The next post will start with Chapter 1 of The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing: 2nd Edition.


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